Joe's Academy 1/72 Boeing B-17F Memphis Belle

[flyjoe180]

Looking at the bomb bay, hardly seems worth the effort of flying to Germany to drop 2 bombs!

Thanks Patrick. There are six bombs in there, probably 1,000lbs each. The B-17 had a relatively small bomb bay due to wing construction. The bomb bay was effectively cut in half by the wing spar. Avro's Lancaster and other types had larger bomb bays. The B-17 was originally designed with range, endurance and strength in mind. Fuel capacity and self defence was of more importance in those early stages of the B-17's life than large bomb loads.


The B-17 could carry around 6,000 to 8,000lbs of bombs on a normal mission. The Avro Lancaster by comparison could carry somewhere in the region of 14,500lbs (excluding the later special missions with 22,000lb bombs). A B-17 could carry 3,500lbs to Berlin, the DH Mosquito 4,000lbs (but only one bomb, or limited to 3,000lbs of smaller bombs).


Anyway that's why you see a small bomb bay and few bombs.


BTW if you ever see this around, it's one of my favourite brews:


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[Richi72]

Great build Joe.


Like the subtle weathering allot


Cheers Richi

[Guest]

Excellent job joe. That is excellent. Seen the flying one at Duxford. I should post up some pics...


John

[colin m]

She looks lovely Joe. The B17 is just one of those aircraft that just look right (in my own opinion) After watching the film I searched 'tinterweb' for details on the crew. I can't remember what I found, but it was nice to see what these brave and famous people got up to having survived the war.

[flyjoe180]

Thanks Colin. Here's a list of the crew: http://www.memphis-belle.com/crewlist.htm


On the crew front escape hatch is the name "STUKA". Stuka was the crew dog, the unofficial 11th crew member, owned by co-pilot Captain James Verinis. Stuka even had his own 8th USAAF dog tags and was said to have flown a few missions with the crew in Memphis Belle.


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The movie was good for its time, but wildly inaccurate. It did reinvigorate interest in the B-17 and the exploits of the daylight bombing campaigns though.


The wartime documentary is not as it seems either. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memphis_Belle:_A_Story_of_a_Flying_Fortress

[takeslousyphotos]

That is a superb job Joe. Very clean build and a great finish. 10/10 from me matey.

[Guest]

That's really nice, Joe - bellissimo! All that surgery really paid off.

[yak face]

excellent job joe , i particularly like how youve got all the different colours and panels . Liking the beer too , how about one of these to go with it? cheers tony [ATTACH]112824.IPB[/ATTACH]